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Chronology of Back to the Future
This is a chronology of the events of the Back to the Future universe. 1st century A.D. *'Date unknown': Bifficus Antanneny is born. *'36': Marty McFly arrives in ancient Rome under the alias "Marticus" and Bifficus Antanneny challenges Marticus to a chariot race. Bifficus must win the race in order to remain popular with the masses, in order that Caligula succeeds Tiberius Caesar as Emperor in 37 A.D., an event that Doc sees as the turning point in the decline of the Roman Empire. From the animated episode Roman Holiday 100s *'127': **'Date unknown': Walter Wisdom steals the DeLorean and travels to Egypt, as Doc and his family pursue him. from the animated episode, Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It's Time for Mr. Wisdom! 1300s *'Date unknown': Lord Biffingham of Tannenshire is born. *'Date unknown': Harold McFly is born. *'Date unknown': Jennivere McFly is born. *'1367' **'Date unknown': The Brown family arrive in Medieval England because Doc thinks his family has become too reliable on technology. Clara is kidnapped by Lord Biffingham of Tannenshire. Doc, his sons Jules and Verne, and Harold McFly tried to save them and were to be beheaded, Clara and Jennivere saved Doc, Jules, Verne, and Harold, and Harold and Jennivere decided to immigrate to Ireland to raise "generations of McFlys" while the Brown family went back to Hill Valley.from the animated episode, A Family Vacation 1500s *'1532' **'Date unknown': Doc and Marty thwart the theft of the treasure from an Incan city of gold from the animated episode, Time Waits for No Frog 1600s *'1692' **The Brown family arrives in Salem, Massachusetts, in August. After a month, Doc has developed the technology to send a letter to Marty, who arrives on September 23. from the animated episode Witchcraft *'1697' **Marty and Verne visit a Spanish colony in the Caribbean, and Marty impersonates pirate Mac the Black. from the animated episode Mac the Black 1700s *'1752' **'September 2nd': In Philadelphia, Verne interferes with Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment on September 2. Doc, Marty, Jules and Einstein travel back in time to set history back on course. from the animated episode, Go Fly a Kite *'1790' **'Date unknown': Two bank robbers from 1991 arrive in Australia after stealing the DeLorean with Einstein inside from the animated episode, Einstein's Adventure 1840s *'1845' **'December 24th': Marty and the Brown family arrive in London on Christmas Eve in order to escape the July heat from the animated episode, Dickens of a Christmas 1850s *'1850' **'Date unknown': Hill Valley is founded. **'March 3rd': Clara Clayton Brown's parents, Daniel Clayton and Martha O'Brien, are married while traveling through Wyoming as part of a wagon train. from the animated episode, Clara's Folks *'1855' **'Date unknown': Clara Clayton is born in New Jersey. 1860s *'1864' **'February 12th': The Battle of Chattanooga takes place in Tennessee in the American Civil War. A Confederate army regiment that had been wiped out in the battle in the original timeline is spared after intervention by Doc, Marty, Jules and Verne. from the animated episode, Brothers *'1865' **'Tuesday, September 5th': Hill Valley becomes a city. based on an 1885 issue of the Hill Valley Telegraph that commemorates the 20th anniversary of the event . **'Date unknown': Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon is first published.Historical fact. See From the Earth to the Moon for details. The book is mentioned in Back to the Future Part III. *'1866' **'Date unknown': Eleven-year-old Clara comes down with diphtheria and is quarantined for three months. As a result, her father places a telescope next to her bed for her to use, which sparks her lifelong interest in astronomy and science. Clara mentions this in conversation with Doc in Back to the Future Part III 1870s *'1870' **'Date unknown': Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is published for the first time. Historical fact. See Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea for details. The book is mentioned in Back to the Future Part III. 1880s *'1880s' **'Date unknown': Seamus McFly, his wife Maggie McFly and his brother Martin emigrate from Ireland to the United States. They take a few years to get to California, shortly setting in Virginia City, Nevada along the way. Martin starts a bar fight there after someone calls him "yellow," and is stabbed to death as a result *'1883' **'August 27th': The volcano Krakatoa erupts in Indonesia. Walter Wisdom travels to the exact time and location in an attempt to have his pursuers (Doc and family) incinerated in the eruption. from the animated episode, Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It's Time for Mr. Wisdom! *'1884' **'Date unknown': Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen shoots twelve men, not including Indians or Chinamen, before the end of this year according to a newspaper article. The article has no follow-ups because Tannen killed its editor. Back to the Future Part II: Doc and Marty read the newspaper in 1955. *'1885' *'January 1' Emmett Brown, 65, is accidentally stranded in Hill Valley while time traveling. He sets up shop as a blacksmith. **'April': William Sean McFly born, first son to Seamus and Maggie McFly and the first McFly born in America. **'Date unknown': Blacksmith Emmett Brown is hired by Buford Tannen to re-shoe Buford's horse, but is not paid. After falling off his horse, Buford blames Doc for the accident. **'Wednesday, September 2nd': Native American Horseback-archers are chased near Hill Valley by the United States Cavalry. Marty McFly arrives in a time machine to rescue Doc from impending doom and ends up on the McFly farm, where he meets his ancestors Seamus, Maggie, and William McFly. He assumes the name "Clint Eastwood". **'Thursday, September 3rd': Marty runs into Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, great grandfather of Biff Tannen, and upsets him, causing Tannen to nearly hang Marty. Doc saves Marty in time. **'Friday, September 4th': ***The new courthouse clock is delivered to Hill Valley by train.Back to the Future Part III: The clock was seen in the background at the train station in 1885. **Doc saves schoolteacher Clara Clayton from an accident. It is love at first sight. **'Saturday, September 5th': As part of Hill Valley’s anniversary festivities, the new courthouse clock is started at exactly eight o’clock PM PST. Photographs with the clock are offered to townspeople wishing to pose with the new timepiece. The clock will remain in faithful service to Hill Valley for the next seven decades. At the Hill Valley Festival. Doc and Marty have a photograph taken, posing next to the new courthouse clock (this photo is given to Marty in 1985 by Doc at the spot where the DeLorean was destroyed by a locomotive near Eastwood Ravine). While Doc and Clara dance, Buford Tannen tries to shoot Doc, but Marty interferes and saves him. **'Sunday, September 6th': Doc and Marty prepare to go back to the future. Doc says goodbye to Clara and tells her the truth, but she doesn't believe him. Both are broken-hearted; she prepares to leave Hill Valley and he goes to a saloon. Buford and his gang rob the Pine City stage. **'Monday, September 7th': ***Marty unsuccessfully tries to avoid a showdown scheduled with Tannen, and survives the confrontation. Tannen and his gang are arrested for the robbery of the Pine City stage. Clara Clayton, on a train bound for San Francisco, overhears a passenger talking about the heartsick Doc Brown; her belief restored, she stops the train and jumps off to find Doc. Doc and Marty hijack the train engine for a science experiment. Clara risks her life to be with Doc, and they end up staying in 1885 while Marty returns to 1985. The locomotive plunges into Shonash Ravine, which is renamed Eastwood Ravine in Marty's honor. **'Tuesday, December 15th': Doc and Clara are married. from the animated episode, Solar Sailors; Doc and Clara are celebrating their anniversary on December 15, 1991, and Doc jokes that they've been married almost 106 years. *'1886' **'Date unknown': Doc and Clara's elder son, Jules Eratosthenes Brown, is born. conjecture from Jules being two years older than Verne, and apparently being about 9 years old when the family first leaves 1895, and conceived after his parents' marriage *'1888' **'Monday, October 29th': Doc and Clara's younger son, Verne Newton Brown, is born. from the animated episode, A Verne by Any Other Name 1890s *1891 Pee Wee McFly, participates in baseball's National League pennant race as a pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters. from the animated episode, Batter Up *'1895' **'Date unknown': Doc finishes building his second time machine, out of a steam locomotive, and he, Clara, Jules and Verne make a trek to the future (2015 or later), where he retrofits the time machine with a hover conversion and other necessary modifications. conjecture based on the boys' apparent ages (9 and 7) in ''Back to the Future Part III, as well as Doc's mention in St. Louis Blues of being at the patent office in 1895. 1900s 1901 George McFly's father, Arthur, is born. During American involvement in World War I (1917-1918), he is 16 years old when he volunteers for the Army. Marty mentions this family story to George in 1955 (BTTF novelization, p91, although this is not seen in the film. *'1904' June 29''th: Doc and Clara arrive in St. Louis for the World's Fair. Marty, Jules and Verne follow in the time train. *'1908' **'Date unknown': Doc's parents, known as the Von Brauns, arrive in Hill Valley.''Back to the Future Part III: Doc tells Marty about it in 1955. 1910s *'1910s' **'Date unknown': Marty's grandfather and Lorraine's father, Sam Baines, is born. **'Date unknown': Marty's grandmother and Lorraine's mother, Stella Baines, is born. **'1917' The United States declares war on Germany on April 6. Due to hostility against German-Americans during World War I, Doc's father changes his family's name from "Von Braun" to "Brown". **Arthur McFly joins the U.S. Army and is shipped over to France, but is not sent into combat. When it is discovered that he is only 16 years old, he is sent home. BTTF novelization, p91 1920s *'1920' **'Date unknown': Emmett Lathrop Brown is born. based on a mention in the BTTF novel that in 1985, Doc is 65 years old. However, the animated episode Gone Fishin' says that Doc was born in 1922. Neither date can be inferred from the film trilogy. *'1923' **'Date unknown': Grays, the future publisher of Grays Sports Almanac, is founded. *'1926' Emmett Brown spends a summer near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his "Oddball Uncle" Oliver. 1930s *'1931' **'Date unknown': A History of Hill Valley, 1850-1930 is published. **'Date unknown': At age 11, young Emmett Brown reads the works of Jules Verne for the first time and decides to dedicate his life to science. *'1932' **'Date unknown': At age 12, young Emmett tries digging to the center of the Earth, inspired by Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. *'1937' **'Friday, March 26th': Biff Tannen is born. as established in Back to the Future Part II, which recounts Biff's life story and "how a trip to the races on his 21st birthday made him a millionaire overnight," and shows a newspaper dated March 27, 1958 *'1938' **'Friday, April 1st': George McFly is born to Arthur and Sylvia McFly as seen on George's tombstone in 1985A in Back to the Future Part II; names of parents are from the BTTF novel at page 91 . **'Date unknown': Lorraine Baines is born to Sam and Stella Baines. **'Date(s) unknown': Biff's future gang members, Match, Skinhead, and 3-D, are born. 1940s *'1940s' **'Date unknown': Emmett Brown works on the Manhattan Project. from DVD commentary by Bob Gale in Back to the Future *'1942' **'Date unknown': Milton Baines is born to Sam and Stella Baines. *'1946' **'Date unknown': Toby Baines is born to Sam and Stella Baines. *'1947' **'Date unknown': Suitable parts for Doc's time-circuits are invented.Back to the Future Part III: Part of Doc's letter. *'1949' **'Date unknown': Sally Baines is born to Sam and Stella Baines. 1950s *'1950' **'Date unknown': 12-year-old George McFly tries standing up for his friend Billy Stockhausen, but fails to do so. *'1954' **'Date unknown': Joey Baines is born to Sam and Stella Baines. **'Date unknown': George McFly reads How to Win Friends and Influence People. **'Autumn': the copy of Fantastic Story that George is reading in 1955 is published. *'1955' **'Date unknown': Old Man Peabody tries to breed pine trees on his farm. He has a twin pine.Back to the Future. Doc tells Marty about this in the parking lot of Twin Pine Mall in 1985, and the farm is seen when Marty gets in 1955. **'Saturday, November 5th': ***Marty McFly arrives from the year 1985 and disrupts the space-time continuum. ***Doc Brown slips off his toilet whilst hanging a clock and has a vision of the flux capacitor.Back to the Future Part I. Doc tells Marty about this in the parking lot of Twin Pine Mall in 1985. ***Biff Tannen and his gang pick on George McFly at Lou's Cafe. ***Sam Baines accidentally hits Marty with his car. When Marty recovers, he seeks out Doc Brown to help him get back to 1985. **'Saturday, November 12th': ***Doc and Marty prepare for his return to 1985, unaware that older versions of themselves have arrived from the future, or that a much older Biff has arrived from the 21st Century, or that there are three DeLoreans in Hill Valley that day. ***Old Biff gives young Biff an almanac and departs that evening for 2015. *** George and Lorraine kiss for the first time at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance at Hill Valley High School. It is at that moment that Lorraine realizes that she is going to spend the rest of her life with George McFly. ***Marty retrieves the almanac from young Biff. ***Old Doc is accidentally sent back to 1885 by a lightning strike. *** At 10:04 p.m., lightning strikes the clocktower, damaging and stopping the seven-decade-old timepiece, and sending young Marty McFly to 1985. A slightly older Marty arrives moments later, with a letter for young Doc. **Doc sends Marty to 1885. *'1956' **'Date unknown': The youngest Baines sibling is born to Sam and Stella Baines (name and sex are never mentioned, but Stella is very pregnant in 1955). **'Date unknown': Lyon Estates, the future home of George and Lorraine McFly and their kids in 1985, is completed. **George McFly and Lorraine Baines graduate from Hill Valley High School. *'1957' **'Date unknown': Toyota begins exports to the U.S. market. Earliest possible date for Statler Motors to take on the franchise. Historical fact. See history of Toyota for details. *'1958' **'Monday, March 31st': Chuck Berry releases the single "Johnny B. Goode".Historical fact. See Johnny B. Goode for details. 1960s *'1962' **'Wednesday, August 1st': Doc Brown's mansion is destroyed by fire, except for the detached garage (which Doc moves into).Back to the Future Part I. According to newspaper clippings framed on the wall of Doc's house. **'Date unknown': Doc sells off the rest of the land. *'1963' **'Date unknown': David McFly is born to George and Lorraine McFly. *'1964' **'Date unknown': Riverside Drive, the street of Doc Brown's residence, is renamed John F. Kennedy Drive in honor of the recently assassinated United States president. *'1966' **'Date unknown': Linda McFly is born to George and Lorraine McFly. **'Date unknown': Studebaker halts all remaining automobile production.Historical fact. See Studebaker's exit from the auto business for details. The Statler Motors' dealership has switched to selling Toyota cars by then. *'1967' 30 year old Biff Tannen has an encounter with an alien spaceship *'1968' **'June 20th': Martin S. McFly is born to George and Lorraine McFly. Bob Gale referred to the date in a draft screenplay for Part II, although this did not end up in the film trilogy, the novelizations, or the animated series **'Tuesday, August 6th': Douglas J. Needles is born. **'Tuesday, October 29th': Jennifer Parker is born. 1970s *'1973' **'Date unknown': Ito Fujitsu is born. *'1976' **'Date unknown': 8-year-old Marty accidentally sets fire to the living room rug. His parents don't go easy on him. from Back to the Future; this could also have happened in 1977 1980s *'1981' **'Date unknown': The DeLorean motor car that Doc Brown ends up buying is first manufactured. **'Date unknown': Biff Tannen Jr. is born to Biff Tannen and an unknown woman. *'1982' **'Date unknown': Pepsi Free, the drink Marty tries to order in 1955, is introduced.Historical fact. See Caffeine-Free Pepsi for details. *'1983' **'Sunday, May 22nd': Ronald Reagan announces he will run for a second term in office. Although a newspaper headline, seen in Timeline 2, mentions that Doc Brown is commended and wins an award, it is unknown whether this happened in the original timeline; in 1985, Dr. Brown is described (by Mr. Strickland) as "a real nutcase". **'Date unknown': Marty and Doc meet and become friends. According to the original Part I script, Doc shows up at Marty's house and hires Marty to sweep his garage in the year 1983. Doc gave Marty total access to his record collection, and they became friends. **'Date unknown': Marty sneaks out of his house at night to meet his friends, and his mother hears the sound of a skateboard and catches him. Marty recalls the incident when he sneaks out again two years later. Novelization, p44 *'1984' **'June': Linda McFly graduates in the Class of '84. *'1985' **'Saturday, October 12th': Libyan terrorists steal plutonium from the local power plant so Doc can build them a nuclear weapon. It is dismissed by the FBI as a "simple clerical error".Back to the Future. According to a TV news program heard in the background. **'Friday, October 25th': *** Doc asks Marty to meet him at Twin Pines Mall at 1:15 a.m. next morning. *** Marty fails his audition with his band, The Pinheads. *** Marty admires a black Toyota 4x4 on the bed of a truck at the Texaco gas station. *** A woman asks Marty for a donation to preserve the non-functioning clock tower, handing him a flyer containing specific date and time details about the lightning strike to the clock. Marty puts the flyer in his pocket. *** Lorraine's brother Joey fails to make parole again. **'Saturday, October 26': *** as they appeared one minute after the first demonstration.]]From about 1:18 a.m. to 1:35 a.m., in the parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall, Doc demonstrates his new time machine. His dog Einstein becomes the world's first time traveler at 1:20 a.m. *** At 1:35 a.m., Marty flees from the Libyans in the DeLorean and accidentally departs 1985 for 1955 by accelerating to 88 mph. His arrival there brings Timeline 2 into existence, and Timeline 1 fades away. **'Saturday, October 26': *** Marty, 8 days older, arrives from 1955 and crashes into the front of the Assembly of Christ He then runs from the town square over to the 'Lone Pine Mall to witness the departure of his one-week-younger self, and sees the Libyans crash into a photo kiosk. Doc escapes injury and departs later that morning to go to the future. ***Marty wakes up at 10:28. Later that morning, Doc arrives and takes Marty and Jennifer to the future. **'Sunday, October 27th': After arriving from 2015 to an altered timeline, Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to right things. **Marty, another week older, returns later that morning from 1885 and escapes injury when the time machine is destroyed. **Marty picks up Jennifer. While they're stopped at a light, Needles tries to get Marty to race him. Marty declines. **Doc and Clara arrive in 1985 and introduce their sons to Marty and Jennifer. **'October/November': George McFly's first novel, A Match Made in Space, is published. 1990s *'1990s' *'1991' *Doc Brown and his wife Clara settle down in Hill Valley, and enroll their children, Jules (10) and Verne (8), at the local elementary school. **'Date unknown': Marty and Jennifer are married. **'Date unknown': Marlene McFly is born to Marty and Jennifer McFly. *'1992' The Browns (Doc, Clara, Jules and Verne) see more of the Tannens (Biff and Biff, Jr.) **'Date unknown': Roberta Needles, older daughter of Douglas, is born. *'1994' **'Date unknown': Amy Needles, younger daughter of Douglas, is born. *'1996' **'Date unknown': Griff Tannen is born to Biff Tannen Jr. and an unknown woman. **'Date unknown': Rafe "Data" Unger, future gang member of Griff's, is born. *'1997' **'Date unknown': Leslie "Spike" O'Malley, future gang member of Griff's, is born. **'Date unknown': Chester "Whitey" Nogura, future gang member of Griff's, is born. *'1998' **'Date unknown': Marty McFly Jr. is born to Marty and Jennifer McFly. **'Date unknown': Bottoms Up!, a plastic surgery place, opens in Courthouse Square. 2000s *'2001' **'Date unknown': Grays Sports Almanac is published. *''2000s - 2010s'' **'Date unknown': The Hill Valley Telegraph closes or sells its printing and news-gathering operations to USA Today to create a local edition of the nationwide newspaper. **'Date unknown': Invention of: hover conversion, Mr. Fusion, the Black & Decker hydrator, hoverboards, power shoelaces and self-drying jackets, skyways, rejuvenation clinics, suspended-animation kennels, automated gas stations, automated dog-walking leashes, thumbprint ID verifications, the 300-plus channel universe, automated hovering news units (as used by USA Today), roll-down television sets (the McFly home runs The Scenery Channel on it in a window). **'Date unknown': The United States abolishes the trade of lawyers, allowing the justice system to move with far greater speed and efficiency. **'Date unknown': The Weather Service develops the ability to either end or predict the end of rainfall to the exact second. **'Date unknown': Relations with Vietnam improve and now there are promotions to surf there. **'Date unknown': Pepsi introduces Pepsi Perfect, a vitamin enriched cola (Marty orders this from the video waiter at the Café 80's). **'Date unknown': Pizza Hut introduces the dehydrated pizza that Lorraine McFly cooks in the hydrator. 2010s *'2013 **'Date unknown': A woman becomes President of the United States (she is mentioned in the 2015 newspaper). *'2015' **'Date unknown': ''Jaws 19 debuts at the theater: this time, it's really really personal. **'Wednesday, October 21st': *** The Chicago Cubs win baseball's World Series in a 5 game sweep over Miami. **'Friday, October 23rd': Queen Diana visits Washington according to the 2015 newspaper. **'Dates unknown': Doc spends an unknown amount of time in 2015 and later. While he's there, he outfits the time machine with a Mr. Fusion and a hover conversion, undergoes personal rejuvenation surgery, and learns as much as he can about Marty Jr.'s meeting with Griff on the 21st 2070s *'Date unknown': Ziff Tannen, grandson of Griff Tannen, is born. *'Date unknown': Marta McFly, granddaughter of Marty McFly Jr., is born. 2090s *'2091' **'Date unknown': Ziff Tannen tries to sabotage Marta McFly's solar sail ship MSC Jennifer, the sabotage was repaired by Doc and his wife Clara and afterwards Ziff was sent to jail where he shared his cell with his grandfather Griff Tannen. See also *Back to the Future timeline References Category:BTTF